Gazprom announced that it was considering gas deliveries to Japan via pipeline. Russia's gas giant said in a statement on Thursday, "The sides touched upon a possibility of working on a project for pipeline gas supplies from Russia to Japan." Reuters reported that Gazprom also raised the prospect in a meeting with a Japanese parliamentary delegation in Moscow.

Sakhalin-2, Gazprom's far east consortium with Shell, Japan's Mitsui and Mitsubishi, has already been shipping liquefied natural gas to Japan. Russia has considered ways to increase fuel sales to its neighbor, where demand for non-nuclear energy increased in the wake of the Fukushima disaster last year.

Japan's northern island of Hokkaido is just over 40 km from Sakhalin, or a one to two-day trip by LNG tanker, making Russia best suited to export gas to Japan, the world's largest LNG importer.

Gazprom has also been involved in painstaking and protracted talks with ExxonMobil about gas sales from Sakhalin-1 project, with the Russian company insisting the gas from the project is needed to satisfy domestic needs first, Reuters said.

Russia has also been in talks about building a gas pipeline to China, but the deal has failed to materialize so far, due to differences over pricing terms.

And along the lines of Gazprom.

The Russian gas monopoly stated that its gas output fell 5.2% year-on-year in April. Troika Dialog analysts noted this has been the worst month for the gas company in the past ten years. Moreover, the last days indicate a decline of over 8% year-on-year, which spells trouble for May as well.

BRIC states now the main factor to drive growth in global car production
The economic hardships faced by the European Union and the U.S. tend to turn to the main car producer's market orientation. Global production of cars this year is expected to grow by around 7% against 2011.

This is largely due to the continuing demand seen in China and India, the recovery of the U.S. market, and increased worldwide demand for premium brands, outlined experts at PwC in an updated review of the global and Russian automobile markets.

The economic hardships faced by the EU will likely cause a drop in production of light vehicles in 2012 across the region. The lingering uncertainty over the debt crisis and the impact of austerity measures could hold back market growth, they claimed.

In Q1 2012, sales of new light vehicles grew by 21% in quantitative terms and 51% in monetary terms against Q1 2011. The positive dynamics are related to factors such as increased consumer confidence and the stronger ruble, noted the report.

Expert analysis pointed to the BRIC countries as the main factor behind growth in global car production. Europe continues to face economic difficulties, causing output of light vehicles to drop. In Russia, meanwhile, car production is on the up and up.

Source: Voice of Russia